[CA] [CA11] Evolution sensor core and AC interference

[ddfour1]

Thanks Chuck. I turned on all of the AC-powered equipment (including air conditioner) on my boat and took a measurement with the iNstall Magnetometer app. At the location of my sensor core I was measuring very little local field. For comparison, I also took a measurement at my MFD and measured a substantial (~50uT) field. So now I am thinking that my sensor core location is acceptable and something else caused the heading issues I experienced.

I am currently working through some battery/alternator issues. Could a weak battery or alternator, where the auto-pilot control head is powered by those batteries, cause the heading issue I experienced?

For background, my seatalk backbone (and hence autopilot control head) get power from my port batteries which are the starting batteries. I don't know why the installer set it up this way but I would like to switch that power source to the house batteries. Anyhow, I recently replaced that port alternator and suspect the cranking batteries are nearing the end of their service life as well.

The rest of my marine electronics (ACU200, Pump, Axiom, Radar, VHF) all get their power from the house batteries).

As a test, I was thinking of disconnecting the power line from the starting batteries to the SeatalkNG backbone and instead powering the SeatalkNG backbone (and thus the auto-pilot control head) via the ACU-200 so all of the electronics in my system would be getting powered off of the house batteries.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Dave